Accumulated daily steps in longer bouts tied to fewer mortality, CVD events

Daily accumulated steps in longer bouts appear to result in lower mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks than steps accumulated in shorter bouts among suboptimally active adults, reveals a study.

A total of 735 deaths and 3,119 CVD events occurred over a mean follow-up of 7.9 years. Cumulative all-cause mortality at 9.5 years decreased with bout length.

All-cause mortality incidence was 4.36 percent (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 3.52–5.19) for bouts shorter than 5 min, 1.83 percent (95 percent CI, 1.29–2.36) for 5 to <10 min, 0.84 percent (95 percent CI, 0.13–1.53) for 10 to <15 min, and 0.80 percent (95 percent CI, 0.00–1.89) for 15 min or longer.

A similar pattern was observed for cumulative CVD incidence at 9.5 years. The incidence was 13.03 percent (95 percent CI, 11.9–14.14) for bouts shorter than 5 min, 11.09 percent (95 percent CI, 9.88–12.29) for 5 to <10 min, 7.71 percent (95 percent CI, 5.67–9.70) for 10 to <15 min, and 4.39 percent (95 percent CI, 1.89–6.83) for 15 min or longer.

In this prospective cohort study, researchers used the UK Biobank (2013–2015) to identify 33,560 individuals (mean age 62.0 years) who engaged in 8,000 or fewer daily steps and were free of CVD or cancer at baseline.

Participants were categorized as follows: having activity bouts shorter than 5 min, 5 to <10 min, 10 to <15 min, or 15 min or longer according to the bout in which they accumulated most of their daily steps. Sedentary participants were those who had <5,000 daily steps, while low-active participants had 5,000 to 7,999 daily steps.

The study was limited by its observational design, with potential residual confounding and reverse causation, and by a one-time measurement of activity.